"I respect everything he has done": Red Bull's Christian Horner touches on his relationship with Mercedes rival Toto Wolff

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner mentioned that he has a lot of respect for his rival and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff for his achievements in the sport.

The two team bosses have been going head-to-head against each other both on and off the track in the past three seasons. Neither of them has been shy at taking potshots on each other's failures on the track and has criticized each other in the media as well.

While appearing on the Sky Sports podcast, however, the Red Bull team boss was quite complimentary of the Austrian and spoke about his respect for what Wolff has achieved with Mercedes till now. He said:

"I respect everything he has done and achieved in the sport. I think we're very different as people and leaders but as I said there is a lot of respect there and I'd say that we have a professional relationship."

Toto Wolff gives his take on his rivalry with Red Bull team boss

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that he and rival Christian Horner were not "friends" but accepted that he has respect for the Briton.

While speaking with OE24, Wolff also commented on the viral photo between the duo at the end of the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP and said:

"That was on the way out of the paddock. There was a nice group around Mark Mateschitz, his mother, and a few people I know well. I joined them and had a nice chat with Geri [Halliwell, Horner's wife] and that's how the photo came about.

"Friends? The last handshake was maybe in 2021, before the last race. But you have to acknowledge your competitor's achievements. I respect what the Red Bull team has achieved.”

The Mercedes boss cheekily pointed out that he was happy that Red Bull did not win in Singapore as it denied them a perfect season:

“Thank God I was wrong, at least they didn’t perform in Singapore. But in the end, the combination of cars and drivers couldn’t even come close to the rest, let alone hope to win. They were in a galaxy of their own.

“And all logical arguments suggest that they will be very strong again in 2024. We simply have to get more performance out of the car. We’ll see whether we manage to do that on the stopwatch. Everything else until then is looking into the crystal ball.”

It will be fascinating to see if Mercedes can close the gap to the world champions in the 2024 season after its P2 finish in the Constructor's Championship between them.